Matthew’s path to building Mav wasn’t linear — and that’s exactly why it worked. From early tech obsession to hard lessons learned the hard way, he shares how failure sharpened his instincts and fueled the creation of Mav, an AI insurance agent replacing traditional call centers through friendly, always-on texting.

In this conversation, Matthew breaks down what actually drives growth: customer obsession, clean metrics, and vertical focus and why staying ahead in AI means learning faster than the market. He also opens up about decision-making under pressure, work-life integration (not balance), and why experience isn’t baggage in entrepreneurship, it’s leverage.

In this episode, we jam on:

1. Failure as a training ground.

Early losses forged the perseverance that ultimately powered Mav’s breakout.

2. How cost opens the door, but experience wins the room.

AI savings matter but Mav’s real edge is a better, faster, always-on customer experience.

3. Go deep or get left behind.

Vertical mastery in insurance beat horizontal shortcuts and helped Mav outperform human call centers.

4. The next threat isn’t human.

Winning in AI means staying ahead of new, AI-native competitors before the rules harden.

5. Focus on who you serve. The score will take care of itself.

Clear service, clean habits, and non-negotiables drive both business growth and personal sustainability.

Meet Our Guest

Matthew Black is a tech entrepreneur with nearly 20 years of experience scaling products across Martech and AI. He began his career building early social networking platforms for MTV and Viacom, then worked on advertising and identity technology at DoubleClick (later acquired by Google). He is now the Founder and CEO of Mav, building AI-powered call center infrastructure for insurance agencies and carriers. Mav powers nearly half a million conversations across the U.S. every month, making hyper-efficient growth accessible to every agency.

Mav helps financial services and insurance teams dramatically improve customer acquisition and lead nurturing using conversational AI and automated texting. Mav’s AI agent cuts service costs by ~50%, boosts lead conversion by ~30%, and removes the need for traditional call-center follow-ups while speeding up time to close.

Meet Our Host

Josh Linkner is a rare blend of business, art, and science.

He's the New York Times bestselling author of four books, and widely regarded as one of the world's foremost innovation and leadership experts. On the business front, he’s been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which created over 10,000 jobs and sold for a combined value of over $200 million.

He’s also the co-founder and Managing Partner of Muditā Venture Partners — an early-stage venture capital firm investing in groundbreaking technologies. Over the

last 30 years, he’s helped over 100 startups launch and scale, creating over $1 billion of investor returns.

While proud of his business success, his roots are in the dangerous world of jazz music. He’s been playing guitar in smoky jazz clubs for 40 years and has performed nearly 2,000 concerts around the world.

About Mudita Venture Partners
Mudita Venture Partners is different by design.

We invest in early-stage, post-revenue, AI-first B2B companies — backing founders who are building what’s next. About 80% of our capital goes directly into operating companies. The remaining 20% fuels Mudita Studios, where we turn bold ideas into venture-backable businesses from the ground up.

We believe exceptional returns and meaningful impact can — and should — coexist.

Beyond capital, we bring deep operator experience, a philosophy of co-creation, and a hands-on team committed to moving at founder speed. We don’t just fund companies — we help build them.

This is venture built for the future.

Website: muditavp.com

Escape Velocity: muditavp.com/escapevelocity

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/muditavp

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@MuditaVenturePartners

Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Matthew’s Origin Story
3:08 The Aha Moment
5:25 What is Mav
6:20 Experience Over Cost
7:45 The User Experience
9:45 The Mock 10 Metric
12:15 Vertical vs Horizontal AI
14:30 Surviving Big Tech
16:50 The Do Over
18:50 Decision Making Framework
20:15 Best Advice Received
22:10 The Myth of Balance
24:00 From Creator to Editor
26:50 Vision for 2030
27:45 Closing Remarks

How failure, persistence & vertical obsession fuels growth | Matthew Black, Founder & CEO, Mav